Time To Tell The Truth
by hxc nerd
Summary: Sequel to Holding Hearts. Jennifer and Jess are going to the same school as their half sister Lily. Jennifer knows that Lily is her half sister, but what will Lily do, and how will Rory react when she discoveres Jess has a second family?
1. Time To Go To School

-1A/N: Okay, this is a sequel to Holding Hearts. Some of you wanted a sequel, and some of you wanted Jess to be with Ellie. For those who really liked how Holding Hearts ended, you don't have to read this. But read the summary if you don't know what this is about. I'm mad at Rory from that last episode of Gilmore Girls, and I shall stay mad at her for awhile, so this is my revenge. And I think it could be fun.

Disclaimer: I don't own it.

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"Jess! Get your ass out of that bathroom! I need to use it too!" Sixteen year old Jennifer yelled through the door to her twin brother.

"Keep your pants on!"

"That's just the thing. I'M NOT WEARING PANTS! My pants are in the bathroom with you." Then Jess opened the door and threw Jennifer's pants at her, and slammed the door on her again.

"Have fun." Jess stated.

"Ugh! Mom!"

"Jess, let your sister use the bathroom. You've been in there for over twenty minutes." Ellie tried to reason while still being very sleepy, but rudely awoken by her bickering children.

"Fine! But I'm using the mirror in your room to finish doing my hair." Jess opened the door and headed to Jennifer's room to use her vanity mirror.

"Stay out of my room!"

"You made your choice." Jess slammed Jennifer's door and locked it.

"Dammit Jess!" Jennifer banged on her door, then there was a crash.

"Oops." Jess let out quietly.

When Jennifer shrieked Ellie sighed and dropped her head onto the kitchen table where she had been sitting with a cup of coffee.

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"Mom, are you or dad going to take me to school?" Lily asked.

"I don't know honey. I'm late for work, so probably your dad. Go ask him." Rory said as she looked around for her keys.

"Dad!"

"Yeah?" Jess walked out of the bathroom.

"Are you taking me to school?"

"Sure. And I need you to come straight home after school to watch your little brother while I go to work."

"But it's my first day of High School. I thought maybe I could stay awhile after school to get the feel of things."

"I'm sorry Lily, but I need to go to work today and someone needs to watch Ricky."

Lily sighed loudly in frustration. "Fine. I'm going to be late if we don't leave."

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"I cannot believe you broke my vanity." Jennifer stated as her, and Jess walked out of the Subway in New York, to their High School.

"If you wouldn't have rushed me, I wouldn't have had to use your vanity. Plus the thing was a piece of crap to begin with to fall apart just because I slammed by hair gel bottle down on it."

"Yes. But it was MY piece of crap. I liked it."

"It's not broken. It just fell apart. I'll fix it when we get home."

"Thank you."

"But only if you get me two new bottles of hair gel."

"What?"

"Yes, because you rushed me, and my hair isn't going to stick all day now." Jess tried to reason. Jennifer was going to retort, but she got distracted when a girl that looked a lot like her, but a little taller with blue eyes walked by. "Hey!" Jess snapped his fingers in front of his sisters face when she didn't argue.

"What?" Jennifer snapped out of her trance.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Lets just get to class." Jennifer walked off, leaving Jess puzzled. But he just shrugged it off, and headed to another day of Hell.

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A/N: What did you think? Good? Bad? I know a lot didn't happen in this chapter. But more will happen in later chapters. I just needed to get started. And for those of you who are confused, at least read the last chapter of Holding Hearts. It should help. Review Please!


	2. Time To Ask Questions

-1A/N: Thanks for the reviews. And I'm sorry if anyone is confused. Lily, is not Jess' step-sister in this. I know they have the same name, but Libby has been done to death as Rory's kids name, and I like the name Lily. Sorry for the confusion.

Disclaimer: If I owned Gilmore Girls, do you really think I would be writing fan fictions?

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Jennifer was sitting in her room trying to read a book, but it wasn't working. She kept getting distracted. That girl who looked so much like her, had been in her P.E. class. She was a Freshman. So two years younger than Jennifer and her brother.

The absence of Jennifer and Jess' father had been obvious, but they didn't ask too many questions. Jess didn't ask any questions. He acted like he didn't care, and he really didn't want to know.

When Jennifer heard her mom come home from work, she decided now was the time to ask questions about her father.

"Hey mom." Jennifer walked casually out of her room into the living room of the three-bedroom apartment she lived in, in New York.

"Hey hun." Ellie took her jacket off.

"Can I talk to you?"

"Sure." Ellie sat down on the couch.

"What's the whole story? About you and dad?" Jennifer asked. She decided just to get the question straight out.

Ellie sighed. She knew this conversation was coming eventually. "Sit down." Jennifer obeyed. "Okay. Do you want to know everything?"

"Yeah."

"Alright. Um, me and your dad lived together, and we were pretty serious. We had so much fun together, and I was really happy." Ellie looked at her hands remembering that time.

"So what happened?"

"One day a girl came to the apartment looking for your father. Rory Gilmore. She was an old girlfriend that realized she was still in-love with him. I could tell that he still loved her too. He loved her more than he loved me. So one night, while he was asleep, I took all of my stuff and left." Ellie explained sadly.

"Just like that?"

"Yeah."

"But, what about me and Jess?"

"I didn't know I was pregnant until about two weeks after I left."

"Oh. What's his name?"

"Jess Mariano."

"Did you love him?"

"More than anything."

"Do you think… Do you think he would have loved me and Jess?"

"I'm sure of it. He would be so proud of you two. You and your brother are so much like him. Especially your brother. He also took an hour to do his hair." She lightly laughed at the memories of many fights over Jess' hair. "You both look like him too."

"Do you know if he had any kids with Rory?"

"Yeah, about two years after you and your brother." Ellie answered and then added mischievously. "I spied on him for those first two years. Not like a stalker spy, I would just check up on him from time to time. But it got too painful to watch you two look so much like him, when he wasn't there."

"What color eyes do Rory and Dad have?"

"Well, Rory has blue eyes, and your dad has like Hazel eyes. Why do you suddenly want to know all of this?"

"No reason really. I was just thinking about it lately." Jennifer lied.

"Oh. Okay." Ellie knew Jennifer was lying, but she was going to let it slide for now. "Where's your brother?"

"He said he was going to hang out in the park today. I don't know when he's going to be home though."

"Okay. Are you hungry?"

"Not really. I think I'm just going to head to bed, I'm kinda tired."

"Okay. Night hun."

"Night mom." Jennifer bent down and kissed the top of her mom's head, and headed to bed.

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A/N: Okay, yes, short again. Nothing happened again. Just a lot of explaining. I will have the next chapter up, like tomorrow. I promise. Or maybe even today if I get a few reviews. It's up to you guys!


	3. Time To Find Daddy

-1A/N: I got three reviews, and I really like posting for the readers, so I'm willing to post another today.

Disclaimer: If I owned Gilmore Girls, I would own cooler clothes.

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Jennifer was sitting in her P.E. class just watching the girl that had become a great interest to her. She was sitting in the corner reading. The girl's mother had sent a note that she sprained her ankle, so she couldn't participate in gym. It was a lie, but Jennifer didn't like gym either.

Jennifer fell and pretended to hurt her knee. The evil gym teacher never let anyone go to the nurse unless they were dieing, so he just sat Jennifer in the corner with Lily.

"What're you reading?" Jennifer asked after a couple of seconds.

"I'm trying to get through Hemingway, but I keep falling asleep."

"Are you kidding? Hemingway is a classic."

"That's what my dad says. But then my mom says he's a cure for insomnia." Lily smiled.

"I'm Jennifer Elizabeth Casanova, by the way." Jennifer didn't use the last name she usually would, just in case this was her half sister. She didn't want to scare her.

"Lily Gilmore Mariano. Nice to meet you." Lily stuck her hand out and Jennifer weakly shook it, remembering her fathers last name, and Rory Gilmore. This was definitely her half sister.

"So, if you don't like Hemingway, then why are you reading one of his books?"

"I promised my dad I would try. He let me pick any one of his books."

"Which one did you choose?"

"The Old Man And The Sea." Lily replied while showing Jennifer the cover.

"You picked the worst one? That one put ME to sleep, and I love Hemingway."

"Really?"

"Yes. What are you doing after school? Maybe I could steer you clear of any more boring books. Help you choose a good one."

"I need to go home and baby-sit my little brother."

"I love kids. I could help if your parents are okay with it."

"That would be cool." The coach blew the whistle for everyone to go get changed out of their gym uniforms. "Meet me outside the front entrance after school."

"Okay. See you then." Jennifer got up and walked to the girls locker room. This could be interesting.

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Jennifer left out of the front entrance as promised and saw Lily standing by the stairs.

"Hey." Jennifer said as she approached.

"Hi." Lily said quietly.

"Do you want to take the Subway?"

"I've never taken the Subway without my mom or dad." Lily said full of doubt.

"I take it all of the time. Just tell me what street you live on. It'll be fine."

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They got in the door laughing at something.

"Hey Lily." Jess said as he got up from where he had been writing at the kitchen table.

"Hi dad. This is my friend Jennifer. Jennifer, this is my dad. Dad, she gonna help me baby-sit."

"Oh okay." Jess said distractedly as his and Jennifer's eyes met. They were the same color, and Jess knew from pictures who she was. Jennifer could definitely tell who Jess was too. Just when Jennifer was going to doubt her choice of coming here Jess suddenly turned to the table and closed his laptop. "I need to get to work. Your mom will be home around Five, and I should be home around Nine."

"Alright. See you tonight then." Lily was obviously oblivious to the tension in the room.

"Have fun." He walked to the door and kissed Lily on the head. On the way out, Jess' hand brushed Jennifer's arm and it sent chills up his and her spine.

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A/N: Drama people. Okay, I'm sorry for those of you who wanted more Jess and Rory. I'll try to fit them in, in the next few chapters. I kind of know where I'm going next, but if you have any suggestions, I'm open to them. Please review. I want to know what everyone thinks.


	4. Time To Talk About Baseballs

-1Jennifer walked into the apartment and headed straight for her room ignoring her brother's calls after her. This was weird, and a little heartbreaking. Watching Lily have a dad. Not just any dad, but _her _dad. Lily got to grow up with a father, and she didn't. Lily got to grow up with _her _father.

It hurt to look at her father. Her mom was right. Jess and her looked like him. If you knew where to look. It was all there.

Then Jennifer thought of her mother. It had to be hard having children that looked like the man you love, but can't be with.

Jennifer was in mid thought when she heard her mom call across the apartment.

"Jess Orville Mariano!" Ellie was trying to be serious, but using Orville always put at least a small smile on her face no matter how mad she was.

"Yeah?" Jess asked innocently.

"What is this?" Ellie asked holding up a white baseball.

"A baseball."

"Yes, a baseball. You don't play baseball, and I got a call from your principal yesterday saying that they were missing many baseballs."

"You just used the word baseball three times. That's redundant."

"Don't be a smartass. Put them back. I'm sick of getting calls about you. Just go a week without getting in trouble. Please? I'm tired, and I have to work. I don't have time to keep making trips to the High School."

"Fine." Jess sighed.

"Thank you. Now where's your sister?"

"She's in her room. I think there's something wrong with her."

"Like what?"

"I dunno. Probably girl stuff."

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Jess walked in the door to find a fairly quiet apartment. Rory was typing, Lily was reading, and Ricky was asleep.

"Hey." Jess whispered as he walked up behind Rory and kissed the top of her head.

"Give me one second. Let me finish this paragraph." Rory said as she never looked away from the screen. So Jess went over to Lily.

"What're you reading?" Jess sat down on the floor.

"A Farewell To Arms." Lily closed the book and looked at Jess next to her.

"Good choice." Jess smiled.

"Yeah. Jennifer suggested it. She said it was sad, but better than The Old Man And The Sea, which put us both to sleep."

"Oh, that's cool." Jess replied trying to sound happy and keep his smile.

"Yeah, she is cool. You would like her. She's a Hemingway fan."

Jess didn't know what to say, but at that moment Rory got up from her laptop and collapsed on the floor next to Jess and Lily.

"Ah, my head hurts. I've been looking at that screen for too long. I think I'm blind." Rory squeezed her eyes shut and let her head fall onto Jess' shoulder.

"If we put on Willy Wonka would you still be blind?" Jess asked.

"I think I would."

"Oh no Lily! This is serious! Call an ambulance, I think your mom might just die." Jess said playfully, and Lily giggled and poked her mom's stomach.

"I'll get you for that." Rory suddenly got up and started tickling Lily, eliciting a squeal. With all of the commotion, little Ricky got out of bed to join the fun.

Later when Lily and Ricky went to bed, Rory sat on Jess' lap on the couch.

"We're lucky you know." Jess said.

"I know we are." Rory answered sleepily.

"Come on, lets go to bed before I have to carry you."

"You're no fun." Rory said in a pout.

"I'm plenty of fun." Jess said, then added "I'm even more fun when we're in bed."

Rory shot up from her position to turn around and playfully hit Jess.

"There are children in the next room."

"We'll buy them earplugs. I'm sure they'll understand. And if they don't then-" Jess was cut off by Rory's lips on his in a long slow kiss. They broke apart after a few minutes. "What was that for?"

"To shut you up."

"That's not very nice Ms. Gilmore."

"It's Mrs. Mariano, and it worked." Rory smiled mischievously, and giggled when Jess faked like he was hurt.

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"Jess." Jennifer said as she entered her brothers room.

"Hey Jen." Jess looked up from his book. Jennifer picked up two baseballs.

"Baseballs huh?"

"Yeah. I was going to go for the basketballs, but they were too big."

"You do realize that sentence was unbelievably dirty right?" Jennifer said while smiling. Jess rolled his eyes.

"What was wrong earlier?"

"I think I found dad." Jennifer crossed the room to sit on the bed with her brother.

"What?" Jess asked now at full attention.

"Well, I saw this girl in my P.E. class that looked like me. I found out from mom that dad had a kid about two years after us. And the girl was a freshman and was reading 'The Old Man And The Sea' so I asked her what her name was. Turns out her name is Lily Gilmore Mariano." When Jennifer didn't get a reply she kept going. "So I became friends with her and went to her house. I saw dad. I know it was him, and he knows who I am. You look just like him. It's amazing."

Jess suddenly got up and grabbed his coat.

"Where are you going?"

"Out."

"You know if you don't tell me, I'm just going to follow you."

"The park." Jennifer knew where he meant. Washington Square Park. They had both felt drawn to it. It's where Ellie would take them a lot when they were little. Now Jennifer knew it must have had something to do with her dad. A lot of things they did when they were small had a lot to do with him. Jennifer had never realized it until now. Now she was putting together the pieces. It was like a puzzle. A puzzle that wasn't finished. The only person that had the last pieces she needed was a certain Jess Mariano.

Jennifer was determined to get to know her father.

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A/N: Okay, I hope you liked this chapter. There was some Jess/Rory action. I'm sorry if I scared any of you with my first A/N. Yes, there will be conflict. What fun would it be without it? None. It would be boring. But I am a huge Jess/Rory fan, so no real worries for lit lovers. All I read are lits. Okay, so please review.


	5. Time To Find Pictures

-1A/N: Yes, I know. I'm a complete retard. I post a bunch of chapters, than don't post any for forever, then post a bunch. It's a stupid pattern I'm in, and I have no excuse for it. Except the fact that I don't have a computer in my room and am revolving around other people's computer schedules. Now I've had this chapter written down in my notebook for a long time and have just been too lazy to type it, but tonight I have time. Woot woot! Okay, I'll shut up now. Sorry.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of it. All I own is the ice cream I'm currently eating. And even that I didn't buy with my own money.

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Jennifer was at Lily's apartment again. It had almost become second nature to just head there after school. Plus it was big and cozy. Jess was taking a nap after a long night of writing, and Lily was in the bathroom.

Jess' wallet was lying on the kitchen table. Jennifer never really got to talk to Jess, so she was wondering what kind of things he kept in his wallet. Maybe his wallet could hold a missing puzzle piece.

She walked over to the table and opened his wallet. The first picture she saw was of Jess, Rory, Lily, and Ricky. Then individual pictures of each followed.

The bathroom door opened and Jennifer dropped that wallet. She looked down and saw that three pictures had fallen out. Quickly Jennifer grabbed the pictures and the wallet from the floor. She set the wallet back on the table, and placed the pictures in her pocket.

"So what do you want to do now?" Lily asked as she walked out of the bathroom.

"I actually have a lot of homework, so I'm just gonna go. I'll see you tomorrow at school though."

"Oh, alright. Bye."

"Bye!" Then Jennifer nervously exited the apartment.

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On the subway back to her own apartment, Jennifer pulled the pictures out. The first one was of Jennifer, her brother, and her mom. Jen and Jess were about five years old. They were sitting in Washington Square Park, and Ellie was reading to them. Veronica had taken the picture.

The next picture was just of Jennifer and Jess. They were two and holding a copy of "A Farewell To Arms." Jennifer smiled remembering her family's love of Hemingway.

The last picture was a little older. It was of just Ellie. She was wearing tight black jeans and no top. She was holding a hair dryer, and her hair was damp and wavy. It looked like Jess had just called her name to get her attention, and surprised her with a photo. Ellie's back was turned, so you could just see her bare back and smiling face.

Even though the picture was clearly candid, Ellie looked happy, and Jennifer had never seen that look on her mom's face before. She looked so happy, that Jennifer couldn't even think about how the fact that Ellie was obviously without clothes in front of her father was gross. Only one person could make Ellie that happy again, and he was married. It wasn't even an option anymore.

Jennifer found a tear rolling down her face. Finally she understood why her mom had all of those scars on her arms. It had to have killed her more than anyone could know to leave Jess and let Rory have him.

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Ellie was sitting at the kitchen table staring at the floor when Jennifer got home.

"Hey mom." Jen said while she walked to the fridge.

"Hi. Where were you?" Ellie's voice was soft.

"I was at a friends." Jen pulled a bottle of water out of the fridge and sat at the kitchen table.

"Oh. Who?"

"Mom, I have homework." Jen said trying to avoid the subject. She hadn't told Ellie about Lily and their dad.

"Fine. I'm going to bed." Ellie said getting up looking extremely tired. Physically, and emotionally. She must have been thinking about Jess again. Whenever she did, she got like this.

"It's early."

"Yeah, I'm just tired. Night hon." Ellie kissed her daughter's head and started to her room. When she got to the doorway she turned around. "Where's your brother?"

"I'm pretty sure he went to Chris' house."

"Alright. Make sure he's home by eleven. It's a school night."

"Okay. Oh, and mom?"

"Yeah?" Ellie answered leaning on the doorway.

"I was thinking of joining the school play. It's of Alice and Wonderland. Do you think I should?"

"Yeah. That would be great. It sounds like fun."

"Thanks mom."

"Anytime."

"Goodnight mom." Jennifer said smiling as she watched her mom dose off in the doorway.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Night." With that Ellie walked into her room and shut the door. It wasn't like Ellie to go to sleep at 9:30. She was usually up until three in the morning. But Jennifer knew what her mom had been thinking about from the moment she walked in the door and saw her mom staring blankly at the kitchen floor.

So Jennifer sighed and headed to her own room to start on her homework.

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Jess got up and went into the living room to check on everything. It was dark out by now. He walked out and saw Lily watching T.V. on the couch.

"Hey."

"Hi dad."

"Where's your mom and brother?" Jess asked as he sat next to his daughter.

"Mom had to work late, so she picked up Ricky earlier. That way, you could sleep and I could do my homework without any distractions. You know how serious mom is on homework."

"Yeah. You should have seen her when she was in High School. She took homework more seriously than anything."

"Somehow, I can imagine that."

"Are you hungry?"

"Yes. Very. Can we get pizza tonight?"

"Sure. Let me take a quick shower and I'll go pick it up.

When Jess got out of the shower he grabbed his wallet off the kitchen table and left. His wallet seemed a bit thinner, but Jess decided to ignore it.

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A/N: Okay. There's the fifth chapter. Woo. I hope you liked it. I know it doesn't seem like a lot now, but pay attention, some of this stuff is leading up to something bigger. Reviews are love. And also, I still don't know who I want Jess to end up with. In a review you can tell me, because I know some of you want him to be with Ellie. So review and tell me what you think. Also, I am extremely sad. I only got one review for me last chapter. Thank you so much _dodgerxreturns_, you were the only person who reviewed, and you're review made my day. Hopefully, I'll get more reviews on this chapter. I haven't written the next chapter yet, so maybe some reviews will inspire me. You get the gist.


	6. Time To Fight

A/N: Okay, I had stopped writing this story, giving up on it due to the lack of reviews. But A few days ago a got a review that was asking me to continue this story. So I will continue it for Dodgerxreturns and any other people out there that are still reading. I had the next chapter all written out on my craptastic computer, but it's a piece of shit, so I lost it and have to re-write it. Hopefully it will turn out okay. Oh, by the way, I'm changing the story to present tense because writing in past tense is driving me insane. I'll change the rest of the chapters later.

Disclaimer: I don't own Jess or Rory, but the other characters are mine. Muahahaha.

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Jennifer walks into the apartment to her brother on the couch with the flavor of the week. They don't even flinch as she stands there.

"It's okay. I only live here. Don't mind me." She walks into her room and closes the door.

Jennifer gets on her computer to keep her busy while she's locked in her room.

When she decides the mauling should have stopped, Jennifer goes out of her room to the main room in the small apartment. Jess is sitting on the couch watching TV.

"Who was that?" She asks sitting next to him.

"Brittany."

"Ew. Brittany? She's not even pretty. In fact, she's ugly and stupid. I hate Brittany. Why were you with Brittany?"

"I needed to get laid." Jess states simply, making Jen jump off the couch.

"Okay, too much info."

"And finding my little sister's bra on my best friend's floor isn't?" Jess takes his attention off the TV to look at his sister.

"That's where my purple bra went? I was looking for it."

"Ew."

Jen tilts her head. "I thought finding a girl's bra on your friends floor was cool in a guys world."

"Not when you know it's your sisters." Jess looks away from Jen trying not to picture her with his best friend in any way, shape, or form.

Jennifer quickly takes the remote from her brother's hand and changes the channel to Fuse. "Get used to it."

"We're not watching Fall Out Boy!" Jess reaches for the remote, but Jennifer moves it away from him.

"Yes we are! Pete's hot!" Jess tackles Jen and they wrestle on the floor, knocking everything on the table in front of the couch off.

Ellie walks in the door to her two children rolling on the floor with the remote. "Of course." Ellie shrugs. At the moment Jess is sitting on top of his sister, while Jen puts the remote down her shirt.

"Haha! It's between my boobs now!"

"Okay!" Ellie exclaims. "Not only did that sound dirty, but I also have to hold that remote." She walks over to the two. "Jess get off your sister. Jennifer, take the remote out of your shirt." They do as they're told, glaring at each other. "What are you guys? Two?"

"Hi mom!" Jennifer hugs Ellie.

Jess mutters. "Suck up."

"Shut up, man whore."

"The love in this family." Ellie says looking at her two children.

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"… And then she fell off the stage!" Lily tells her mom and dad about what Jennifer did at rehearsal, laughing. "Ever since, her pinky's been spazzing out every so often."

"Oh my god. Is she okay?" Rory asks getting out the box of instant mashed potatoes.

"She's fine. But it was so funny. I was crying."

"I'm glad you're having fun, honey. You should take a shower before dinner."

"Okay." Lily starts for the bathroom and bursts out laughing obviously remembering something Jennifer said.

Once Rory hears the shower start, she walks over to where Jess is stirring something.

"You're very quiet tonight."

"I just have a lot on my mind."

"Like what?" Rory puts her hand on Jess' shoulder.

Jess shrugs it off. "Who's Michael?" Jess refers to a note he found.

"He's a friend from work." Rory picks at the opening of the mashed potatoes box.

"Yeah, that note was really friendly." Jess forgets the sauce he's stirring and turns fully to Rory.

"He has a crush on me. That's it. He just likes to compliment me sometimes."

"That was one hell of a compliment. If he just has a crush on you, then complimenting that would sound a little like a stalker. Are you sure he's the only one with a crush?" Jess asks, and you can hear that he's about to lose it. He waits for an answer, but Rory just looks at her shoes. Jess' fists clench and he feels like throwing something or punching someone. He decides on something that won't effect his children as much. "Don't wait up for me." Is all Jess says before grabbing his jacket and leaving the apartment, slamming the door so hard it shakes the whole room.

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A/N: Okay, don't hate me. Review, the few reviewers I have left. Thanks! I'll try to get the next chapter out within this calendar year.


	7. Time To Feel Guilty

A/N: Thank you for all the wonderful reviews. I felt loved, and that made my day. It also made me want to update faster. I'll start answering reviews at the bottom of each chapter. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own a bunch of CD's. Not much else.

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"Mom."

Rory looks up from the pile of work she'd been burying herself in.

"My performance for Alice In Wonderland is on Friday and Saturday. When can you be there?"

"I'll be there on Saturday." Rory goes back to her work quickly.

"Where's dad?"

"What?" Rory looks up again.

"I said, where's dad."

"Honey, your mom and dad are busy. I don't know where he is all of the time." Rory's getting a little frustrated with the subject. She never knows where Jess goes anymore since their fight.

"Fine." Lily gets her coat.

"Where are you going?"

"Jennifer's." Is the simple answer Lily gives before leaving. Rory just sighs and gets back to work.

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"Don't you love when the neighbor's go on vacation?" Ellie yells over the loud music to her daughter.

"Hell yeah!" Ellie grabs a ketchup bottle, and Jennifer grabs the phone, using them as microphones to sing along with The Sex Pistols.

"It sounds like a rock concert in here!" Jess finally comes out of his room to be blasted by the music.

"I know isn't it great?" Jennifer dances to her brother and tries to dance with him.

"No, way."

"Oh come on, Colin would dance with me."

"That's because Colin's sleeping with you. And I would rather not sleep with my sister, so I'll pass on the dancing."

"Fine. Party pooper."

"Speaking of, I'm going to Colin's. I won't go deaf there."

"Have fun!" Jennifer and Ellie yell as they continue to dance as they clean the kitchen.

When Jess opens the door, there's a girl with blue eyes standing about to knock, but not quite sure. Jess closes the door mostly behind him to quiet the music.

"Can I help you?"

"Maybe. Does Jennifer live here?" Lily asks in a small voice. She was at Jennifer's apartment once. Briefly, so she didn't quite remember if it's the one.

"My sister? Yeah, go on in. You might want earplugs though, or you might go deaf."

"Thanks for the warning."

"Anytime." Then Jess gets going down the stairs.

Lily opens the door slowly and enters, watching how good Jennifer and her mom get along. Lily notices that Jennifer's mom looks younger than Rory. Definitely more fun. As Lily watches the two, she wishes she had that kind of relationship with her mom. But Rory's always busy with work.

Somewhere in the mess of dancing, Jennifer notices a figure and realizes it's Lily.

"Hi Lily!" Just then Jennifer realizes something and runs past Lily out the door, calling down the flights on stairs. "Jess!"

A faint but annoyed "What?" comes from near the bottom.

"Can you get my bra? Pretty please?"

"Shut up!" A voice comes from one of the apartments near-by. Jen ignores it.

"With a cherry on top?"

"Don't mention Cherries to me!" Jess yells in disgust and then quickly walks down the rest of the steps and leaves. Jennifer knows that he'll get her bra. Most people would think that he blew her off, but she knows him too well.

So with a smile of victory, Jennifer runs back into the apartment and turns the music down a bit.

"Can I talk to you?" Lily asks Jennifer. Jennifer looks to her mom, and when Ellie nods, she looks back to Lily.

"Sure thing. My room's right over there." Jennifer points to one of the for doors down a small hallway. "I'll be there in a second." Lily gives a quick nod and walks to the room.

Ellie raises her eyebrows in questioning, and Jen just shrugs, following Lily into her room and closing the door behind them.

"What's up?" Jen sits on her bed and pats the spot across from her for Lily to sit on. She does.

"It's my parents."

Jennifer sits up straighter since Lily's parents mean her parent. "What about them?"

"Something's up with them. A few weeks ago I got in the shower while they were cooking dinner, and when I got out, take-out food was on the table and my dad was gone. I didn't see him the rest of the night. Then I go to get a drink of water in the middle of the night a couple nights ago and my dad's on the couch. My mom's been burying herself in work. Not like that's unusual, but it's getting worse. She doesn't even listen when I talk to her. And I asked her where my dad was, and she snapped at me and got all mad saying that she was busy and couldn't always keep track of him." Lily starts to cry and Jennifer can't help but be a little annoyed.

Here is this girl who grew up with a father and a mother. She's privileged. She never would go to school and see all of these kids with Dad's giving them hugs with those big, warm arms, and go home to ask your mom where yours was. Thinking that you had been bad, so you didn't get one.

Growing up without a father had never really bothered Jennifer until she found her father, and found out that he was someone else's dad. Then she started to fantasize about what having a dad would be like. Not that Ellie wasn't the best mom in the world. She was fun, crazy, and just really cool. Never did Ellie freak out when Jennifer told her she was sexually active. Just a simple "I'll get you on the pill." and a "Be careful." Did the trick.

Jen and Jess always knew that they could talk to Ellie about anything, and they both appreciated it. She was the best mother a kid could ask for. The kids really didn't need a father. They could go for days without thinking about it. That doesn't mean it didn't hurt to find him and see that he was another girl's dad.

"Couples fight." At least, that's what she had heard. "It's probably not a big deal."

"Yeah, you're probably right. I should go. See you tomorrow?" Lily gets up.

"Yeah. Do you want me to walk you home? It's dark out, and walking alone can get scary."

"Then you'll have to walk alone on the way back."

Jennifer shrugs. "I'm used to it. I've walked in New York at night for most of my life. I can protect myself." 'Cause I never had a dad to protect me. She silently adds.

"If you're sure." Lily sounds uncertain.

"One hundred percent." Jennifer gets up and grabs the old leather jacket that was her father's. Ellie had let him keep it, but somehow in the mix of everything he got it back to her, and now Jennifer and Ellie shared it. Ellie had said that it was hers, but Jennifer knew it had a bigger meaning. "I'm gonna walk Lily home. I'll be back in a bit."

"Be careful." Is what Ellie always said in response. She had to at least try to get her kids to be careful on the streets at night.

"Hey, when is your mom coming to the play?" Lily asked Jen quietly.

"Oh yeah. Mom, the play is on Friday and Saturday. Can you be there?"

Ellie only thought for a moment. "I'll be there Friday."

"Is Jess coming?"

"I'll drag him there if I have to. But I'm sure I won't have to."

"Okay, bye mom."

"Bye sweetie."

----------------------------

Lily walks into her nice apartment. Rory's no longer at the table, and Jess is on the couch with the TV on.

"Hey dad."

"Hey. Where have you been?" Jess turns to Lily and scoots over on the couch for her to sit.

Lily walks over and sits next to Jess. "I went to Jennifer's. Mom didn't tell you?"

"She was in bed when I got home." Jess lies.

Rory had been at the table still doing work when Jess walked in. Jess went straight to the kitchen to get a beer and wouldn't even look at Rory as she tried to talk to him. He _couldn't_ look at her. Finally Rory got fed up with being ignored, packed up her work and went to what _was_ their room.

"Oh. Can you come to the play? Mom's coming Saturday."

"I have work Saturday. I'll be there on Friday."

"Oh." Lily looks down at her hands.

"Don't be sad. Just think of it this way, you'll have a parent to perform for each night."

"I guess that could be cool."

"It will be." Jess hugs Lily and can't help but wonder if Ellie ever got someone to be Jennifer's and Jess' dad. There were never any pictures of a man. Guilt washes over Jess. He's become Jimmy. Ellie said not to try and find her, but maybe that was a test on how much he wanted to see his kids. If it was, he failed. Miserably. He was just so scared. What would Rory have thought? What would she think now? It was going to be a long night.

-----------------------------

Opy- Thanks. I'm glad I'm working on it again.

Ellie- That's cool that Ellie is your name too. I guess you could pretend then that the Ellie here is you.

Curley-Q- Patience grasshopper, I'm getting there. BTW I like your penname.

Magdalene82- This is actually a sequel. You should read Holding Hearts. That's the story that takes place before this. I'm sure you'll be a little less confused. Thanks for the review. Tell me what you think of Holding Hearts too.

Roryjesssplease- I'm glad you're so happy about me writing again. That makes me happy. Keep reading and reviewing.

Polka.dot.pineappple- Here's your update.

Dodgerxreturns- Yeah, I model Jess and Jen a bit around me and my brother. Just nicer to each other. My brother and I fight over the remote like that, but my mom usually ignores us. Haha. Happy? What do you think will happen in the next chapter?

Satelliteblues21- I dunno. It could be. Or it could be just something to make you _think_ I'm setting him up with Ellie, and him and Rory will reconcile. Thanks for the review. Keep reading!


	8. Time To Have A Reunion

I A/N: Yeah, you guys are spoiled.

Disclaimer: I own a banana….Now I'm hungry.

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Ellie walks into the Auditorium to find a seat. She knew she should've been there earlier, almost all of the seats are full. Just then, Ellie spots two open seats. She needs to save one for her son, he said he would be a little late.

She walks over and sits down not paying attention to who's next to her. When Ellie moves to put her purse in the seat next to her, she elbows whoever's on her right side.

"Oh, I'm so sorry." Ellie looks up to the person to apologize and sees his face. She freezes as her eyes lock with those Hazel ones.

"Ellie." He breathes out.

"Jess. Hi."

"Hi." Jess' heartbeat speeds up, and he feels like he's 21 again. "You look good." He takes in her jeans and black jacket that hugs every curve.

"Thanks. You look good too. Tired, but good."

"Yeah. Well the couch isn't every guys dream bed." Jess lets slip. It was always so easy to talk to Ellie.

"Not a comfy couch? I always pictured you as a guy who would want a comfy couch." Ellie's not stupid. She can put two and two together, so she doesn't push it, and decides to joke about it.

Jess chuckles. "No, not too comfy. I wish I would've gotten a more comfortable couch."

"That's a sentence that could be taken the wrong way." Jess starts to laugh, and Ellie smiles knowing that even being away from each other for about 16 years, she can still make him laugh.

----------------------------

"Hey, it looks like your mom and my dad found each other." Lily calls to Jen peeking out of the curtain.

Jennifer comes running to the curtain and peeks out too. "They're getting along." And they look good together, Jen thinks.

"Yeah, why wouldn't they?"

"Oh. No reason."

"He's laughing!" Lily exclaims.

"What? Is that odd?"

"Lately! I haven't seen him really laugh for a long time." Jennifer smiles to herself and takes a rain-check on doing a little happy dance.

------------------------------

Jennifer rolls onto the stage in her skates as the white rabbit.

Jess smiles. "She's really pretty. Looks just like you." He whispers to Ellie.

"Thanks. She looks like you too." Just then Jess Orville jumps over the back of the chair next to Ellie and sits down, out of breath.

"Sorry."

"You took longer on your hair than you meant to?" Ellie asks.

"Be quiet… And yes. That's my sister?"

"Yes. She's the white rabbit."

"I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date." Jennifer says rolling on the stage. Jess Orville bursts out laughing, and Ellie hits him.

Jess Mariano just smiles watching everything take place. He feels right here. Next to Ellie and Jess. Watching Jennifer dressed as a rabbit on stage. He can't believe he missed this for all these years.

----------------------------

After the play, Jennifer goes out into the auditorium still in her White Rabbit make-up and costume. She sees her father and goes up to him.

"So what did you think?"

"It was funny. I love the cotton tail." Jen sticks out her butt and shakes it to show off the tail. Jess laughs.

"Where's my mom?" Jennifer looks around.

"She and your brother went to the bathroom."

Jen sits next to Jess. "I know who you are." Jess raises his eyebrows. "Dad."

"Oh. Yeah."

"I don't hate you."

"You don't?"

"No. I'm a little bitter. But not mad."

"And your brother?"

"He's probably mad. Did he see you?"

Jess shrugs. "If he did, he didn't say anything."

"Sounds like him. Not too talkative, you know?"

Jess scoffs. "Believe me. I know."

There are a few moments of silence as Father and Daughter just sit together enjoying the feeling. When Jen spots Lily with her back turned, but fully out of costume she gets up.

"I should go. This rabbit costume is getting hot."

"Okay. I'll see you sometime?"

"That's up to you." Jen winks and skates off to get changed. Jess watches as her brother comes up behind her and scares her almost making her fall, and then watching her hit him while he laughs.

"Entertaining, aren't they?" Ellie says coming up behind Jess.

"Yeah. They really are. What was it like having twins?"

"Painful giving birth." Jess drops his head, guilty that he missed that. In his defense, he didn't know Ellie was pregnant. He did only find out after they were already born. "Crazy raising them." That Jess doesn't have a defense for. He knew by then. "But it's fun now because Jen is getting to where she wins when they wrestle. Jess always gets all huffy and then insists that he was just being nice and letting her win. We all know better. But we let him keep his manhood by insisting they have a re-match and then he usually wins those."

"Do they get along?"

"They get along better than any teenage brother and sister. Still have their fights, but for the most part they're attached at the hip."

"Jess is quiet?"

Ellie laughs a bit. "Quiet, moody, smart, stubborn., troublemaker. Who does that remind me of?" She looks to Jess.

"I don't know what you're talking about." He smirks.

"Oh he does that too."

"What?"

"Smirks. Annoys the hell out of me, but is also cute."

"I'm sorry." Jess says out of the blue.

"For what?" Ellie catches Jess' eye.

"Being like my father. Not being there for you. Not being there for Jennifer and Jess."

"That's not your fault. I-" Jess cuts Ellie off.

"It is my fault. I should've told Rory. Even if I didn't leave her, I should've told her so that I could still help raise my kids. And if Rory didn't like it, then that would be her problem. But I was a coward. I just kept you three a secret trying to pretend that I didn't think of all of you everyday and wonder what you were doing. And I'm sorry."

Ellie just smiles wide and messes up Jess' hair. "Your hair is too tame now. It's not you." Ellie gets up and leans down to kiss Jess on the cheek and takes advantage of the closeness by whispering in Jess' ear. "Thank you." She stands up, smiles softly, and walks away leaving Jess speechless.

"How does she do that?" Jess asks himself aloud.

"Who?" Lily is suddenly standing by him.

"No one, honey. You ready to go?" Jess snaps out of his daze and stands.

"Yeah. Did you like it?" Lily and Jess start to make their way out of the auditorium, but Jess keeps glancing back to his other family. "Hello? Dad. Dad!"

"What?" Jess looks to Lily.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I just like all of the costumes, I want to remember them."

"You can just come tomorrow." Lily hints.

"I told you, I have to work."

"Since when?" Lily recalls Jess having a pretty flexible work schedule all of the time.

"You did a really good job tonight. It was a great play." Jess tries to change the subject but fails.

Lily sighs and rolls her eyes. "This is because mom is going to be here tomorrow, isn't it? What's going on with you two?"

"Nothing." Jess quickly glances down at Lily. She just shakes her head and decides to leave the subject alone. Jess is extremely stubborn, and Lily could never quite break him down. Neither could her mother. Lily wonders if anyone has the power to break him down when he doesn't feel like talking about something.

-------------------------------

Ellie and Jen are sitting on Ellie's bed watching TV with snacks later that night.

"Hey mom." Jen tries to say with a mouthful of ice cream.

"Yeah, hun?" Ellie mutes the TV, and looks to her daughter.

"I saw you talking to dad tonight…" She leaves the sentence open.

Ellie tilts her head to the side. "What?"

"Mom, I know who he is. He's Lily's dad, too. I've been around him for like a month. We hadn't really talked, but I knew. I'm not stupid, I can put the clues together." Jennifer's voice doesn't indicate that she's mad, but proving her point.

"Yeah, I kind of already knew."

"What?"

Ellie uses her daughters words. "I'm not stupid, I can put the clues together. Plus, you're my daughter. I carried to inside me for nine months, gave birth to you, and raised you. I know you so well."

"I'm also a great deal like my mother." Jen points out. Ellie just shrugs her shoulders. "So? What did you and dad talk about?"

"Honey, you're already calling him dad?" Ellie smiles softly, and has a look of pity on her face.

Jennifer looks into her ice cream bowl. "I dunno. It's a word I never got to use, I guess."

"It's fine. We talked about you and your brother. How you guys are like him, and how you're like me. Nothing earth-shattering." She makes a point of leaving out the part of the big heart-felt apology. Ellie doesn't want to get Jennifer's hopes up. She herself doesn't even know if that was the last time she would see Jess.

"You two don't hate each other?"

"No." Ellie chuckles slightly. "Of course not. Our terms of separation were not bad ones. I mean, leaving in the middle of the night might not have been the best thing to do, but I was eighteen. It was the only thing I could think to do."

Ellie's younger than Jess. He was twenty-one, and she was seventeen when they got together. Most of her friends said that he was too old for her, but neither of them noticed the age difference. In retrospect it was a teeny age difference. Veronica didn't care as long as the two were happy.

By the time Rory came along Jess was twenty-two and Ellie was eighteen.

Ellie's relationship with her parents wasn't stable. Well parent. Her mother and the man she insisted on marrying. She had run away when she was fourteen and went to live with Veronica. They hadn't cared. She had warned them many times that she would run away, and her mother told her to go ahead and do it. So one day she did.

After she got pregnant, Ellie had three jobs to make enough money for the twins and an apartment of her own. She couldn't live with Veronica forever. Had to quit one of her jobs due to being sent to the hospital for exhaustion, and nearly losing Jen and Jess. She was stubborn and refused to go to Jess for money no matter how many times people told her she needed to. Going to her old house never even crossed her mind as an option.

She got by. Never had any fancy apartment, but the apartments they had over the years worked just fine.

"Jennifer." Her brother calls.

"In here!"

Jess appears in the doorway. "I'm going to Colin's. And he said that he would like it if you came. He's throwing a party."

"Oh!" Jen shoves a huge spoonful of ice cream into her mouth, and looks at her mother pleadingly.

Ellie laughs. "Go. Are you going to be out all night?"

"Yeah." Jess answers when he realizes Jen still can't say anything due to the choking amount of ice cream in her mouth.

"Have fun, guys." Jennifer dances out of the room, spoon still in hand. "Put the spoon in the sink!" Ellie calls. She hears a clink in the sink, and then a "Bye mom!" in unison as the door closes. She turns the TV to Pretty In Pink.

------------------------

Jess and Lily are sitting watching TV when Rory walks through the door. Lily gets up and hugs her mom.

"Dad liked the play. He also got to meet Jennifer's mom, Ellie. They got along really well." Lily goes on oblivious as Rory stops and looks at Jess, and he continues to stare at the TV.

"Jennifer…?"

"Casanova. Mom, I've told you this."

"Sorry, I'm tired. How old did you say she was?"

"Sixteen?" Lily's confused.

"Honey, I think you should go to your room."

"But-" Lily begins to protest, but Rory interrupts her smiling, but her voice stern.

"Go."

Lily looks between her parents, before sheepishly going to her room, afraid she stirred up something.

Once Lily's door is closed, Rory starts pretty calm. "Ellie? As in the Ellie I know who ran off?"

"Yup." Jess switches channels, bored with the commercials that are on.

"Her daughter is sixteen. Meaning she's yours, Ellie cheated on you, or she moved on very quickly."

"Sure." Jess switches channels again. Now Rory begins to lose it. She stomps over to Jess, rips the remote from his hand, and turns off the TV. "Hey!" Jess stands up so he's taller than Rory.

"Which is it?"

"Which is what?"

"Is she yours?" Rory waits, and when she doesn't get an answer, she asks again, louder. "Is she yours?"

"Yes! Actually she has a twin brother, who is also mine!"

"How long have you known?" Rory's voice is quiet again.

"Awhile."

"How long is awhile?"

Jess looks Rory in the eye. "Fourteen years."

"I can't believe this! For fourteen years, for your daughter's entire life, you've know that you have two other kids, and never told me?! So, have you been having secret meetings behind my back? Have you been cheating on me?" Rory screams forgetting that the walls aren't super thick.

"Hey!" Jess loses it at the last sentence. "I'm not the cheater in this house! I would never do that. That's more of a Rory thing."

Rory drops the remote. "I don't even know what to say to that."

"Nothing." Is Jess' last angry word before he leaves again slamming the door.

Lily sits in her room crying and angry. She can't believe Jennifer is her half sister, and didn't tell her. "Was she just using me?" Lily can't help but think.

-------------------------------

There's a knock on Ellie's door as she's slipping through channels. She gets up in her bunny slippers, and pads to the door, unlocking it and opening it.

Ellie can't believe what she's seeing.

"Jess, hey."

"How comfortable is your couch?" Jess asks looking up from his shoes.

------------------------------

A/N: Muahahaha. I left you at a cliffy. I'm an evil whore, I know. I might not update super fast, 'cause I'm sick and buried in schoolwork. But reviews always make me want to write. Only 5 reviews last chapter. Lets see if you guys can do better than that.

Dodgerxreturns- Yeah, I was predictable, sorry. I'm glad you LOVE it. That makes me happy. Thanks, your reviews always make my day. I hoped you liked this chapter. Sorry to leave you at a cliffy like this.

Sagebeth- I dunno. I might. Well your review actually inspired me to try and write Rory finding out. (cringes) I hope it was good and didn't look cheesy or fake. I hate cheese, so I hope I don't write cheesy stuff.

Curley-Q- I know you want to find out, but you will have to wait. What do you think so far?

Satelliteblues21- You guessed that Friday was the night. Sorry, Ellie didn't wear the leather jacket. I think that would have added just a bit of cheese, and I try to stay away from cheese of any kind. The food, or writing. I'm glad you liked the cherries bit. I like to have a bit of humor in the drama of everything.

Roryjessplease- Thanks for the review. I'm glad you like my story, and I hope you continue to like it. I dunno, I might be breaking Rory and Jess up, I might not. You're just going to have to keep reading.


	9. Time To See What's Been Missing

A/N: This picks up where the last chapter left off. I'm not getting as many reviews. Every chapter I post, gets less reviews. Do I need to stop writing for months again?

Disclaimer: bobs head to music What? Oh, yeah, own nothing.

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There's a knock on Ellie's door as she's slipping through channels. She gets up in her bunny slippers, and pads to the door, unlocking it and opening it.

Ellie can't believe what she's seeing.

"Jess, hey."

"How comfortable is your couch?" Jess asks looking up from his shoes.

"Probably more comfortable than yours. Come on in." Ellie opens the door a little more and motions inside.

"Thanks."

Ellie shrugs, closing the door. "It's no problem. I'm here alone tonight, so some company is good."

"Where're the kids?" Jess scans the tiny apartment.

"Party."

He turns around. "What?"

"Jennifer's boyfriend was throwing a party, so her and Jess went." Ellie sees the look on Jess' face. "They're sixteen. If I would've said no they would've gone anyway. I figure might as well know where they are."

Jess slowly nods. "Makes sense."

"You hungry?"

"I'm fine. Just go back to what you were doing, you don't have to entertain me." Ellie smiles coyly. "No" Jess shuts his eyes. "Nothing like that."

"Your loss." Ellie shrugs one shoulder. "I was watching TV, wanna join? I have popcorn, pop-tarts, ice cream, and many other things I'm sure you would disapprove of."

"Why not." Jess follows Ellie into her room. He takes off his shoes and jacket, before joining Ellie on her bed and grabbing some popcorn.

--------------------------

Rory's on the phone with her mom in her room crying.

"He just left." Rory throws the tissue she was holding down on the bed.

"I'm going to kill him. I swear. Luke and I are going up there with fire and pitchforks."

"Don't. Mom, I don't need this into another hate Jess rant."

"Sorry. So you have no idea where he went?"

"No. Maybe he just went out for a walk. That's what he usually does. He leaves, and comes back in the middle of the night to crash on the couch."

"Usually?" Lorelai asks suspiciously. "Babe, does this happen a lot?"

"We fight a little."

"A little?"

"Yes. A little. It's not a big deal. Look, I'm going to get some sleep. I'm really tired. I'm sure he'll be here tomorrow morning. I was just overreacting."

"Are you sure?" Lorelai is skeptical. It's been a long time since she's heard Rory cry. Jess had always been there for her stress attacks, and Lorelai had tolerated him for it. He really did make Rory happy. But to hear her crying over him, was killing her."

"Yup." Rory lies. "Thanks for talking to me."

"Anytime, sweets. I'm going to call you tomorrow to check on you."

"Oh, there's no need."

"I'm doing it and you can't stop me."

Rory slightly smiles at her mom's stubbornness. "Fine. Love you, mom."

"Love you too, sweets. Bye."

-----------------------------

"So you wanna talk about it?" Ellie asks, still staring at the TV.

"Want is such a strong word." Ellie glances at him through the corner of her eye. "I told her. Well, actually she kind of figured it out, but I confirmed it."

"I take it she was mad. I'm sorry."

"Don't be. She had a right to be a little mad, but she had no right to accuse me of cheating." Ellie raises her eyebrow. "That's her fad." Jess adds under his breath, but Ellie catches it, and nods. "Thanks for letting me crash here tonight. I don't deserve it."

"Yes you do." Ellie turns, looking at Jess for the first time. "You've been through hell this past month." She puts her hand over Jess'. "I don't like to see you hurt. Anything I can do to help."

Jess looks over to her and intertwines their fingers. "Thanks."

Ellie smiles. "Don't mention it." They both unconsciously lean towards each other and their lips connect in a sweet, passionate kiss. Ellie moves her free left hand to cup Jess' cheek, and Jess moves his right hand to the small of Ellie's back.

The kiss starts getting heated as Ellie and Jess' tounges battle. Jess slowly pushes Ellie back, flat against her bed and Ellie moves her hand to Jess's hair.

Finally they pull apart and Jess looks down into Ellie's amazing green eyes. Ellie scans Jess' face and smiles sadly. "I've grown up. _We've_ grown up." Ellie wraps and unwraps her index finger in Jess' hair. An old habit, she easily picked back up. "We shouldn't do this." She lightly runs her finger oh her other hand along Jess' jaw line.

"Why?"

"Because you're married. You have two other kids. And I know Rory's cheating on you, but that doesn't make this right. If anything, it's worse because it seems like you're just trying to get back at her, and you really don't want this."

Jess rests his weight on his right elbow and pushes a strand of Ellie's hair behind her ear. "You know I want this."

"I know. And I do too. I'm going to put it bluntly. As much as I am dying to jump your bones right now, and I really am, every part of my body is telling me to. But I can't. As much as I love you, and want you, _need_ you, I need you to break things off with Rory. You need to be sure that this is _really_ what you want, and you won't regret it later and run back to her."

"I understand." Jess nods, but doesn't move.

"Why are you still laying here?" Ellie asks, amused, after a few minutes.

"Just reminding myself of what I've been missing." He runs his thumb over Ellie's baby-soft cheek. "One more reminder." Jess leans down, and kisses Ellie long and slowly, pulls away, kisses her nose and gets up. "Where's your bathroom?"

All Ellie does is point out the room, in it's general direction. Jess leaves to go find it, and Ellie covers her face in her hands, sighing, then running her hands down her face to reveal a frown slowly turn into a smile.

---------------------------

A/N: Short chapter, but this seemed like a good place to stop. Up next, Lily and Jen see each other for the first time since Jess and Rory's fight.

Curly-Q- Thank you for always reviewing. Sorry, but things are rocky between Rory and Jess. I'm not quite sure when I want to end this story. I'm thinking, I'm going to just write the rest of it, and then start posting. 'Cause I'm also not sure how I want this to end.

Satelliteblues21- Thank you for the oh so nice and inspiring review. Sorry, no Jen, Jess, or Lily in this chapter. This was all about the adults. But I thought they needed a chapter. Everything's been about Jen and Lily the whole story. But they'll be in the next chapter.

Sagebeth- I'm glad you're in love with Ellie and her twins. (shrugs) Feeling sorry for Rory is fine. Weird for you, but fine. How do you think this should end?

Roryjessplease- Aw, you're all desperate and sad. I don't know what I'm doing yet. But no matter what, I hope you keep reviewing.

Dodgerxreturns- That was an extremely nice review. I'm glad you LOVE it so much. That truly makes me happy. I saw in your profile that you have an AIM name. Still deciding whether I should IM you or not. It might spoil the wait and Author/reader relationship. Maybe after I'm done with the story I'll IM you. Are you happy with this chapter?

MackeyPac- Sorry, I'm not an ideal story writer. What do you think of the story? Do you still like it?


	10. Time To Fist Fight

A/N: Sorry for the long wait. I didn't have any inspiration, and I was waiting for a laptop I THOUGHT I was getting but then didn't. Sooo I bit the bullet and started attempting to write this again.

Disclaimer- I own the characters that aren't in the show.

--------------

Jennifer walks into the High School the next morning. She had stopped by her apartment earlier, to get showered and dressed. Her mom's bedroom door had been closed and that usually meant that she wanted to be left alone, so Jennifer didn't bother her.

Jen walks over to her locker and opens it to get her books. She's about to reach in her locker when it slams shut. "Hey! You could've taken my hand off!" Jen yells not looking at who did it yet.

"Good." A familiar, and usually sweet voice says. It doesn't sound sweet right now, though.

"Lily. Why did you just try and subtract a limb from my body?"

"I couldn't imagine. Sister." Lily says coldly.

"What-" Jennifer starts, trying to recover.

"Where's MY dad?"

"_Your _dad? You know he's my dad too."

"No, he's not. He raised _me_." A knife in Jennifer's heart. "_I_ grew up with him."  
Another. "I always knew who _my_ dad was." Another. "It was one of _my_ first words." By this time, Jennifer would be on the floor bleeding to death. "He didn't leave _me_."

"You don't know what the hell you're talking about." Jen is hurt, but she's also pissed off.

"My mom's not a whore like yours. I'm not a bastard, Jess and Rory were married when I was born, far away from you and your slutty mom."

"No, I think it's your mom who's the slut. She came to Jess' apartment and would've jumped him then and there if it weren't for my mom." Jen steps closer to Lily. By this time there is a small crowd forming at a safe distance. Neither girl notice.

"Take that back. I'll kick your ass." Lily's a little taller than Jen, but not by much because she's not finished growing.

"Oh please." Jen scoffs "I'm not fighting you."

"Why not?"

"Because it would be unfair. Listen, I can't change the facts. Rory threw herself at Jess, and my mom was courteous enough to not make her look like the fool she is."

At this Lily punches Jen square in the cheek. Jennifer stumbles back, just a little and rubs her cheek. "You punch like a girl."

"At least I'm not a poor girl that was born to a poor bitch." Lily screams.

That was the last straw. Jennifer just steps once and punches Lily knocking her straight to the ground with one swing. That's the thing about growing up in New York without daddy dearest. Jennifer's had to fight for herself, and has done it many times. The crowd grows and gets louder, closing in.

Lily scrambles to her feet, bleeding lip and all and scratches Jen's face, Jennifer swings again, knocking Lily down again. She steps forward to punch her again, but someone grabs both of her arms, while another teacher helps up Lily and immediately holds her from going for Jennifer again.

Jen gets out of the teacher's grasp, but doesn't hit Lily again. Just calmly follows them to the office. Lily however needs to be dragged kicking and screaming.

Jennifer's brother, Jess pushes himself up from leaning on the locker he was, shakes his head, and walks to class.

-----------------------------

Later, Jess walks in the office and sees his sister sitting in one of the chairs, her left cheek a little red with a couple of scratch marks on it.

"I can't imagine how your day has been." Jess states sarcastically as he sits down in the chair next to his sister.

"Don't even start with me. I've heard too many lectures from the hypocrite named Jess, about fighting."

"I wasn't going to lecture. I was going to congratulate you."

"What?" Jen turns to look at her brother like he's got three heads. "You want to congratulate me on kicking a girl's ass?"

"No. You didn't start it. I was watching the whole thing, and she deserved for you to punch her. She deserved for you to punch her a lot harder, 'cause I know you held back."

"Still gave her a black eye and bloody lip."

"You spared her nose. That was generous." Jess says, and Jen smirks, then she remembers something.

"Wait, you were watching the whole thing, and you didn't break us up?"

"Nope."

"And you heard everything then?"

"Yup."

"You weren't mad?"

"A little. But I figured you'd take care of it. They called mom yet?"

"Either they have, or they will soon." At that moment Ellie walks through the office door. "I'll take that as a have."

"Jennifer."

"Hey mom."

Ellie walks over and Jess gets up so his mom can sit down. "How much trouble are you in?"

"Don't know. They're still deciding how long to suspend me. Still talking to Lily."

"What happened?"

"I don't want to talk about it right now." Jennifer crosses her arms and looks in her lap. Just then Lily comes out of the principal's office with and ice pack on the left side of her face. She glances at Jen once with her right eye, then walks over the other side of the office to sit down.

"Jennifer, you're suspended for seven days. Go home. Jess, get to class." The big man who's the principal comes out of his office and says seeming tired. "Hello, Ms. Casanova."

"Hello, Mr. Turner." Ellie says politely.

--------------------------

"Okay. I have to tell you something." Ellie says, stopping outside of the apartment building.

"What is it?"

"Your dad's in the apartment. Nothing happened, just Rory was driving him crazy and he needed a place to crash. Not a big deal." She says all in one breath.

"Oh. Can I talk to him?"

"Um, sure. I'll just go get some food maybe. You sure you want to go in alone?"

"Yeah." Jen takes a deep breath. "I really want to just talk to him."

"Okay. Good luck." Ellie kisses her daughter on the top of her head and walks off.

Jennifer enters the apartment and finds Jess sitting on the couch watching TV.

"Hey."

"Hey." Jess looks up. "Ow, what happened to you?"

Jen shrugs. "I'll tell you later." She sits next to him. "So what're you doing here?"

"Sick of my couch."

"Why are you sleeping on your couch, anyway?"

"Rory and I are having some problems."

"Problems having to do with me?" Jen seems a bit guilty.

"Yes. But we were having problems way before she even knew you existed. We've been fighting for a long time. I don't know if we can fix it." Jess says the last sentence more quietly than the rest.

"Do you want to fix it?"

"I don't know. I'm sick of hurting people. I know I hurt your mom more than either of us could imagine. I didn't do it on purpose, but it hurts me to know that I was the one who caused it."

"If you could go back, would you do things any different?"

"Honestly? I don't know. Maybe. But maybe not."

"It's not all your fault, you know." Jen shrugs, and Jess put his arm around her shoulders.

"That is exactly what your mom would've said. She's never blamed me for anything. She should hate me, shouldn't she?"

"She should. But she loves you and could never hate you. Here." Jennifer pulls the picture out of her wallet of Ellie that she found in Jess' wallet. "You see this smile?" She shows the picture to Jess. "I've never seen her this happy in my entire life. I didn't even know that smile existed."

"Where'd you get that picture?" Jess smiles remembering the day the picture was taken. Once she realized he took the picture she chased him to get the camera back, but ultimately the chase was forgotten once the tackling began and they realized they were on the bed.

"Found it in your wallet."

"You are your mother's daughter!" Jess exclaims. "Spies. All of you."

Jennifer just smiles.

"So what happened to your face?"

"Lily punched me. She punches like a girl. You did a crappy job teaching her how to punch."

"How do you know I can punch?"

"Because you taught mom, who taught me."

"Oh. I was going to teach her, but Rory wouldn't let me. She didn't think that Lily needed to know how."

"Yeah well she punched me and scratched me. I punched her back. You might want to be prepared to be screamed at by Rory I presume. She's going to think it's my fault."

"What happened?"

"Lily somehow found out that you were my dad too, and I guess got pissed when you left. She blamed me and called mom a slut and a lot of other things. Then I told her the truth. That Ellie wasn't the bad guy. She got mad, punched me. Said more stuff, I punched her, got suspended for seven days and here we are."

Jess sighs. "I guess I better go then. Are you gonna be okay?"

"Please. I've been okay for sixteen years, I'll be okay now. Are you going to come back?"

"Yeah. I will. Make sure you tell your mom I'll be back."

"Okay. Later."

"Later." Jess repeats, smiling at the teen lingo. Then gets up, and leaves the apartment.

--------------------------------

When Jess walks through the door of his apartment, he's immediately met with a screaming, hysterical Rory.

"Where have you been? Did you know that your daughter is in her room with a black eye and bloody lip? You have a lot of explaining to do."

"Not to you." Jess pushes past Rory and goes to Lily's room. Closing the door behind him after he walks in. "Hey."

"Go away. Don't ever talk to me again." Lily's laying on her bed with her back turned to Jess.

Jess sits on the edge of her bed. "Listen, I'm sorry you heard your mom and I fighting last night. That shouldn't have happened."

"You shouldn't have left. Where did you go? Let me guess, to Jennifer's apartment."

"I know you're not stupid or blind. I know you've seen me sleeping on the couch for the last few weeks. You haven't said anything, but you know. I was sick of sleeping on that couch all alone. It was getting ridiculous, and your mom was hysterical last night. I couldn't stay."

"I know that." Lily turns around and sits up, looking at Jess. He slightly flinches when seeing her banged up face. "You leave all of the time. But you always come back. Mom and I always listen for when you come back. You didn't come back. I heard mom go out and check the couch all night. She didn't even go to work this morning. She wouldn't make coffee, or even get out of bed."

"I didn't know that." Jess looks into his lap.

"Of course you didn't. Because you weren't here. And I've been bringing Jennifer here all of this time, and you've known that she's my half sister? You didn't even say anything? I bet she knew also. It's like some big fat joke that everyone was in on but me. Except the joke wasn't funny." Lily starts crying, trying not to wipe too hard at her bruised face.

"I'm so sorry. I just seem to screw everything up." Jess runs his hand over his face. Lily turns her back to him again.

"Now if you would please leave." She strains to say steadily.

Jess sighs and gives her shoulder a reassuring squeeze before striding out of her room and into the main room to find Rory on the couch with her head in her hands.

"I don't want to do this anymore." She says into her lap, then looks up. "I don't want to fight and worry. I don't want to lie to my mom that we're fine anymore."

"Then don't lie to her. I never asked you to lie to her. I don't think she could possibly hate me anymore than she already does."

"She doesn't hate you. She doesn't like you, but she doesn't hate you. But she might if she even thinks that I'm unhappy." Rory stands up from the couch.

"What do you want to do?" Jess asks tiredly.

"Can we fix this?"

"You know, I don't think we can." There's no use in lying now. But he regrets it a little when Rory collapses back on the couch from her legs seemingly giving out.

-------------------

Jess squats down to be at near eye-level with his young son. "Hey buddy. I'm going away for awhile."

"Will you be back?" He asks standing in his blue footsy pajamas holding a bear Jess got for him.

"I don't know yet. But you will see me again. I promise." He runs his hand over the small boys head resting on his shoulder. Rory stands a few feet away watching the scene unfold with tears falling down her face.

"But what if I have a bad dream?" He looks to his dad with worried eyes.

"Think of your bear as me. And there's always your mom here."

"But mom can't scare the monsters away."

"You don't need her to scare the monsters away. You're my strong little man. What did I teach you to do before you go to bed?"

The little boy gets what's supposed to be a scary face and goes "Rawr! You don't want to mess with me, I'll kick your butt!" Jess smiles and even Rory slightly smiles at it.

"That's my scary man. No monster's going to come out after that."

Ricky smiles really big. "Okay!"

"Don't worry. I'll see you soon." Jess kisses the top of his head. And the boy leans over and kisses his dads cheek like he does every night.

"Bye daddy."

"Bye Ricky." Jess stands up and looks to Lily who's standing in the doorway to her room.

"Bye." She's pissed, but she at least has to say bye. Even if she won't call him dad at the moment.

Jess nods to her and Rory. Then walks to the door, grabs a duffel bag and his laptop case. The image of him leaving is familiar by now, but this time it's not angrily. And instead of slamming the door behind him, he closes it softly. Leaving his wife and daughter in tears, and his son oblivious.

--------------------

A/N: Aww… Sad chapter. Sorry. This is not the end, but I don't know what I'm doing next. I need inspiration, which I've been lacking lately. At least for this story. For all of you who love Jess/Ellie, I'm thinking of writing a story of how they met. Do you all think that would be a good idea? Might be hard because I was led to believe I was getting a laptop of my own for Christmas. But now I'm being told maybe for my birthday. Do you know when my birthday is? April. Yes, I was beyond pissed. Wound up having a fight with my mom about it. _Sigh_. Oh well. Also, I started writing a story of why Jess was sent to Stars Hollow. Haven't posted it, but I've started it just for myself. Would you guys like that?

Ellie- Haha. Thanks. Yeah, Rory is kind of supposed to be a jerk here. You glad your name is one of the main characters?

Sagebeth- Yes, probably. But if they all need therapy, then you won't be the only one! Haha, j/k. You know I love you. Anywho, sorry for the wait. I thought I was getting my own computer so I could write whenever. I was lied to. Grrr. Did you like that Lily and Jen fought?

Curley-Q- Was that enough interaction for you? What did you think?

Satelliteblues21- I'm so glad you like it. Thank you so much for the review. And thank you for not pressuring me one way or the other. You gave an honest opinion without making me feel like if I did one thing or another you would be mad. Thank you!!!! If I could, I might kiss you. Would that be at all weird?

Roryjessplease- You sound a bit confused. But not now probably. You hate me now. Well tell you what, if you don't like how this ends just pretend that Holding Hearts was the end, and that this never existed. How about that?

Nomadguadians- Thanks for the review. I'm always happy to see new names. Yeah, I also thought it would be way too soon for anything to happen, and I didn't want Jess to be this bad guy. I personally don't think he would ever cheat on Rory no matter what.

Hollowgirl22- I'm sorry you're not liking where this is going. If you don't like it, you can pretend that this story never existed and that Holding Hearts was the end.

Mary- YOU MADE MY DAY! I could kiss you. But a hug might be more appropriate, right? Yeah, I find it easy to write Ellie because she's a great deal like me. I am also a victim of clinical depression. So I know what it's like. I also like her because she seems real. She has faults, but also true good points. I really hope you like this. What would you think of me writing a story of how Jess and Ellie met? And if you like Ellie's character, you might also like this character that I'm writing for a story about why Jess got sent to Stars Hollow. It's not like the other person's. I haven't posted it yet. I'm waiting to see if people think it's a good idea. What do you think? I seriously hope you keep reading and reviewing. You made my day, which was hard since I'm currently having major work on my teeth. It's very painful. Why couldn't I be born with straight teeth and an aligned jaw?


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